Photography isn’t just taking selfies, Instagraming food, Tumblr, or Pinterest – it even goes deeper than taking a pretty sunset or landscape. Photography records history and has made gains in science.
Photography has benefited the scientific world in various ways. For instance, photography has helped with the study of anatomy. Photographs are more accurate in representing the location of a particular subject than a drawing. They can “record the presence of clouds, contrails, plants, insects,” and various animals. They are extremely helpful in creating geographical maps and in exploring the vast underwater world. Additionally, they “provide an objective standard for defining the visual characteristics of a species of animal, or a type of rock formation.” Like photos can aid studies by showing the changes of a particular subject during a specific time period. Along those lines, photography often captures images the naked eye cannot detect. For example, Rosalind Franklin used a type of camera the “tilting micro-focus camera” to take “x-ray diffraction photos of the B-Form DNA.” The photos she took assisted in the discovery of the Double Helix. In a way, photography “slows down” an event so that we can see the tiniest movements. Another example, are the photographs taken by Eadwaeard Muybridge in 1878 of “photographs of a horse in motion settled a longstanding dispute about whether all four of a running horse’s feet are ever off the ground at the same time.” Photographs also capture motion images like the instant a drop hits the surface or a bullet going through a card.
Other examples of how different types of photography are useful in the medical world are x-rays, CAT scans and MRI’s. These types of cameras/imaging technologies that are used to produce the images, indicate to doctors the extent and type of injury to their patients. Cameras can also be used during surgery (also known as laparoscopic surgery) where doctors make smaller incisions to perform the surgery without seeing “directly into the patient without the traditional large incision.” Using laparoscopic surgery makes recovery time for the patient shorter and less painful.
Somewhere along the line, especially with media, the impact of photography that has on the scientific world and historically has been lost. Hopefully after reading this post, you realize how much photography has impacted your life in the smallest way and that there is more to taking pictures to post on a social media platform.
I would have never knew that there was more to picture taking until I read this! I see a beautiful piece of Nature, I snap a picture of it. Or my little siblings doing something adorable, I’ll snap a picture. I knew that X-rays were pictures being taken but I never really looked at it differently until now. It really is more than just a picture. They check if people have tumors, broken or fractured bones and this all is life changing experiences. When I hear “picture” or “photography” I instantly think scenery. Not Hospital. This post now has me thinking differently and more interested.
This is just so interesting i would never think of photos related to science, but now it makes so much sense that x-rays and mri’s are just pictures! I think it is really cool to think about how far photography has come since the 1900’s when all we get to see is black and white photos of our great-grandparents. Photos now are almost as if you are seeing it first hand! very cool!
I never really thought about all the different ways photography strongly impacts our lives. I’ve had x-rays and MRIs, and I’ve used photographs in various school assignments to help better my understanding of certain topics. With Instagram, Snapchat, Shots, etc., the other means of photography have definitely been lost. Great topic!